PAR 56 Proximity to the Cyc

I was wondering how close I could place a PAR 56 to the cyc safely without risking any damage from the heat of the fixture to the cyc. The lights will not be pointed directly at the cyc, but rather I would like to use their elipse shape to put peams of light onto the cyc.

What I was planning on doing is this: We have a segment of triangular truss about a meter and a half in length. I would like to mount five PAR Cans on this. Two at just over horizontal, two at roughly 45 degrees, and one at 90 degrees, perpendicular to the truss and the deck. The setup would look like this: _\|/_ So, how close can I possibly place the piece of truss to the cyc, safely and without damaging anything due to the heat?

 

about 1 meter or 3ft should be safe (note:i am probably overcautious)

 

I think that might be a little too far off for my purposes. Any less conservative suggestions? I probably should have said this earlier, but the fixtures won't be on much, just as an occasionnal effect during a concert.

 

absolute closest 1/2 meter 1.5 ft

 

I did the same thing your doing. I was only about 4 inches away. Just make sure it doesn't fall onto the cyc.

Check out my picture of that... http://www.ztwbs.com/ctkpics/3.JPG

Later

 

That looks really good in your picture. A dance company rented our theater, and they hired something called a Rain Bar which they put in front of the cyc. It was basically just a two meter pipe with feet, with about two dozen MR16's mounted on it. I figured I could improve on that method with my oversize version using PAR 56's instead of MR 16's and a segment of truss instead of a pipe.

 

You might want to see if you have an extra clamp or two nearby and see if you can rig some some kind of simple shield (doesnt have to be sold, just a couple of fairly thin bars should be enough) to keep the cyc away from your lamps, especially if there is a chance the cyc will move abit during the show.

 

One should be less concerned about the heat than the beam of the PAR 56 upon providing a wash of light on the cyc.

“The lights will not be pointed directly at the cyc, but rather I would like to use their elipse shape to put peams of light onto the cyc.”

So if putting beams of light onto the cyc, would they not be pointed at it?

In the end, your diagram given a short small stage and wide beam of light on the best of wide flood lamps, that would allow for at best a 28x70 degree beam angle beam of light. I expect that given this the flood is more orientated vertically with the other fixtures covering outwards for a total of 84 degrees in beam angle wide.

Now given this WFL lamp that’s 70 degrees by 90 degrees at best, what distance as compared to a unknown cyc height and with is the optimum distance from it? Don’t know, you no doubt will have to find out. This much less given the described truss, what at best will the beam angle of the fixtures when plotted out when no doubt mounted on the truss have as it’s beam angle in almost vertical as opposed to the sight lines have? What’s the requirement of the cyc lighting verses that of the amount of distance in filling it up evenly in an other than vertical positoin as opposed to these lights in being more than a front wash location to them that also drops in intensity by way of law of squares in depreciation of intensity due to a A square plus B square equals C square beam of intensity. This beyond any effects of the actors having a adverse shadow effect on the light projected on the cyc in covering it.

In other words, I expect you will be needing at least five fixtures at least given even a reasonable beam of light. Go to GE lighting . Com and look for the free “GE Lightbeams” program in plotting out these lamp beams in remembering that the fixture will also limit is some in cleaning it up. At least than with the program you can than plot out the beam of light in two dimensions as to at what height and angle or distance will than prove useful.

In general you gave us details about the size but not beam spread of the lamp. Than gave details as to what to light and whith how many which was also good, but not it’s distance or intensity requirement and wattage, much less screen size to be lit in determining the angle.

 

The PAR's aren't meant to be a wash, I would rather that they just put "fingers" of light onto the cyc, in the shape that I described: _\|/_ I was planning on using this for a concert, not a play, so I'm not overly concerned about shadows, really. Also, the setup will be in the center of the stage. The stage itself is quite a bit bigger than the setup with the PAR's.

When I discussed the lights not being pointed at the cyc, I meant that it will only be the light's spill hitting the cyc, and not direct light with the light pointed at the cyc. I was actually planning on having the lights perpendicular to the cyc.

By the way, the PAR's are 500 W PAR 56's.

 

The PAR's aren't meant to be a wash, I would rather that they just put "fingers" of light onto the cyc, in the shape that I described: _\|/_ I was planning on using this for a concert, not a play, so I'm not overly concerned about shadows, really. Also, the setup will be in the center of the stage. The stage itself is quite a bit bigger than the setup with the PAR's.

When I discussed the lights not being pointed at the cyc, I meant that it will only be the light's spill hitting the cyc, and not direct light with the light pointed at the cyc. I was actually planning on having the lights perpendicular to the cyc.

By the way, the PAR's are 500 W PAR 56's.

 

Cyc

Place about 1.5-2 feet. i have never had a problem with it being 1.5 feet away

 

see, i have support in my theory,it's an uprising!

 

I used a metal ladder to secure the PAR's on. Hehe, jimmy-rigged but it worked well.

 

That's a really clever solution. Had I not stumbled across (quite literally) that segment of truss, I was going to use floor stands, but I like this way, with the truss, better.